MOSCOW. Dec 27 (Interfax) - The Russian Orthodox Church believes that cloning
is a dangerous experiment which could cause a deep moral crisis. "If human
cloning has indeed taken place, it is a very alarming fact for orthodox
Christians," Father Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy chief of the external
relations department of the Russian Orthodox Church, told Interfax on Friday.

Practically all major Christian churches of the world agree on this, and the
legislation of civilized countries currently bans human cloning, he said.

There are good reasons for this, Father Vsevolod said. "There are doubts
that a cloned child would grow to be a healthy and functional member of society,
but even if this did happen, there are two deep moral problems," he said.

"How will the person feel about being simply a copy of someone? And why
is so much money and effort being invested in cloning experiments?" Father
Vsevolod asked.

The priest believes "the real issue is that these experiments are being
promoted by rich, faithless, proud people seeking eternal life." It is not
a coincidence that the sect believed to have sponsored a cloning attempt said
that its ultimate goal is to constantly transfer the brain from one cloned body
to another, i.e., actually "growing new bodies to replace old ones,"
the priest said.

The Russian Orthodox Church does not condemn the cloning of separate organs,
but if human clones are grown to fulfil the egotistical desire of people wishing
to give themselves a second, third, hundredth life, a profound moral decline
will occur, Father Vsevolod said.

"From the point of view of a Christian, sickness and even death are not
always evil, and if man tries to make his earthly life eternal, forgetting about
Godly laws, he creates great unhappiness for himself and immeasurable suffering
for his clones, especially if these humans being are doomed to be 'spare
parts'," Father Vsevolod said.